I’m sure you’ve heard the recent story splashed all over the news… the extremely disturbing story about the mother who says she gives injections of Botox to her 8-year old daughter so that her daughter could more effectively compete in beauty pageants. Child and mother were featured on Good Morning America and Inside Edition, and were mentioned on most local and national new broadcasts. The story has received tremendous attention and authorities wanted to investigate the mother for child endangerment. This negative press likely caused the mother to retract her story and she now claims that she was being paid to make up the whole thing, and she insists that she never administered Botox to her daughter.

Well, I can sure tell you that as a dermatologist, watching the initial story, I knew from the get-go that this mom likely did not give her child Botox. Any physician provider who administers Botox Cosmetic and watches the video of the mom allegedly administering Botox could tell you there are holes in her story!

Medical professionals who regularly administer Botox to patients (who are over 18 years old, of course!), only need to watch the story once to know that mom wasn’t telling the truth. She was obviously NOT administering Botox to her child, and I’ll tell you how I know this.

If you look at this picture, it shows that mom has used a black marker to show where she is injecting Botox. She has placed these black marks very evenly spaced over her daughter’s entire face! Well, this makes no sense at all! Remember, Botox injected into a specific muscle works by temporarily preventing that muscle from flexing. For example, most popularly, we inject it in very minute doses into the muscles between the eyebrows to prevent these muscles from flexing and creating the furrows, or “11’s” between the eyes. If this mom was injecting Botox into her daughter’s lips as she has marked in the photograph, her daughter wouldn’t be able to purse her lips, or drink out of a straw! If her mom was injecting Botox into her daughter’s cheeks, her daughter wouldn’t be able to smile! The video shows her daughter speaking well and smiling often, so this is proof that she did NOT get Botox in those areas. In fact, her daughter appears to be smiling, frowning, and speaking as any 8 year old girl would, except unfortunately, psychologically, she may have endured major permanent damage knowing that her mother convinced her to lie about getting Botox on national television.

I find fault in the news organizations that didn’t even do a simple fact check. If they had interviewed any dermatologist or plastic surgeon who regularly administered Botox, holes would have immediately been apparent on the story. It’s fortunate this story can’t be true because the pageant world would indeed have sunk to a new low!!